Every Shape, Every Quilt, All the Time

Every Shape, Every Quilt, All the Time is NOT the same as Everything Everywhere All at Once. (Russ and I watched the Oscars last night.)

Would you like to print 4 sheets of fabric instead of 15?

Inklingo quilters usually print Every Shape for Every Quilt All the Time. The printing goes faster than many quilters can imagine. It’s easy to prepare fabric sheets (video) while other sheets are rolling through the printer. (That video shows how to iron freezer paper to fabric and could have been nominated years ago. )

Zip, zip, zip.

However, even obsessed Inklingo quilters don’t print every shape for every quilt.

Sew Half-Square Triangles with Inklingo

The most common example is probably Sawtooth Squares (Half-Square Triangles) and Hourglass Blocks (Quarter-Square Triangles) because we just print one sheet of fabric, layer it right-sides-together with unprinted fabric, and sew along the lines. The printed fabric is a perfect guide.

Get the free Triangle Tips PDF and watch the short HST video. The HST video has been available since 2010 and has never been nominated for an Oscar. (The website has changed a lot since those days.)

The video shows how we sew the bias seams before they are cut with no trimming afterward. There is no need to print dark fabric. It is suitable for scraps. The triangles are named with the finished size. There is no measuring odd sizes and every triangle has precision corners and perfect straight grain on every side. It is truly a universe of good things.

That’s easy peasy. We’ve all done it. Only print half of the triangles. Got it.

However, if you will be rotary cutting and don’t need the sewing lines, matching marks, and crosshairs for some reason* you can just print a few of the shapes and get fabulous results.

Example for Layer to Cut Starry Path

Layer to Cut is one of the methods taught in The Inklingo Handbook (2008).

Layer to cut uses a printed sheet of fabric like a ruler or template. It doesn’t slide around the way acrylic does, and since precise cutting lines are marked, there is no measuring. Rotary cut several layers at a time using the top layer as a guide.

Layer to Cut Starry Path Quilt

The example in our multiverse today shows how you can print 4 sheets of background fabric instead of 15 sheets for this Starry Path quilt.

Inklingo Layer to Cut Starry Path

Each of the 30 blocks in the Starry Path quilt requires 8 background triangles and there is a Combo Layout that allows you to print 2 sets at a time (16 triangles).

Layer to Cut Starry Path Combo 2

Print 4 sheets of fabric and layer them with 11 other fabrics (above).

The triangles in Starry Path are different from the right-angle triangles we commonly use. Other designers would teach paper piecing (and pick the paper off after sewing) or sell acrylic templates, or sell rulers with complicated instructions.

Inklingo quilters have learned one simple thing—how to print on fabric—so they don’t need any more rulers or acrylic templates! (Why I don’t sell acrylic templates).

Triangles with Precision Corners

The printed triangles have precision corners, so it is easy to align the shapes for machine piecing even without the printed lines on every triangle.

Inklingo Layer to Cut Double Wedding Ring

Layer to Cut ANY Shapes, Not Just Triangles!

That’s right. All of the shapes in the Index of Shapes are suitable for Layer to Cut!

TIP To keep the layers from shifting, you may want to pin or baste (by machine or hand) before you rotary cut. If you sew along the cutting lines, the basting is automatically removed when you cut. This is especially helpful for curved shapes like Clamshells and Double Wedding Ring.

Starry Path and mirror image

Mirror Image and Layer to Cut

This is not as complicated as the multiverse but it is an added wrinkle.

My Starry Path example includes 15 “normal” blocks and 15 “mirror image” (above). This will affect whether you layer the unprinted fabric wrong side up or right side up.

Starry Path Quilt Blocks

Don’t worry. Mirror image is explained in the Starry Path shape collections and there are even mirror image layouts to make it easy. (Much easier than kung fu with nunchucks, eh.)

I haven’t seen the movie yet but it looks as if this quote from the trailer is true for Inklingo too:

“The universe is so much bigger than you realize.”

Who can resist a movie starring a Mom, played by a 59-year-old actress?

Or Jamie Lee Curtis (64) for Best Supporting Actress? (Definitely not the same role she played in A Fish Called Wanda, another favorite.)

If you missed the Oscars, you missed Michelle Yeoh’s acceptance speech when she won for Best Actress. “And ladies, don’t let anyone tell you that you are past your prime.”

Do I Use Layer to Cut?

I usually print everything because I like to have the flexibility to switch from machine to hand piecing any time (hybrid piecing) but if you know you will be sewing edge-to-edge by machine, or if you just need the shapes to baste onto templates for EPP, you can do less printing.

I will explain the multiverse and time travel another time, okay? That’s enough for today.

“The universe is so much bigger than you realize.”

New to Inklingo?

1. DOWNLOAD, SAVE, and OPEN the Free Diamond Triangle Square shape collection first.

2. VISIT the Welcome Page on the website.

3. SUBSCRIBE for occasional updates.

Footnote for some reason:

*sewing edge-to-edge by machine, English Paper Piecing

2 thoughts on “Every Shape, Every Quilt, All the Time”

  1. I am very much looking forward to your explanation of the multiverse and time travel :-). I think if time travel were ever to be invented, we would have seen this already… Like evil acrylic template pushers from the future sending robot killers to prevent Inklingo from being invented or something 😉

    Reply

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